


All Is Mended

by tinydooms



Category: Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 13:23:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13435611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinydooms/pseuds/tinydooms
Summary: Belle and Agathe talk about the curse, days after its end.





	All Is Mended

 

**All Is Mended**

 

_If we shadows have offended,_

_Think but this, and all is mended_

_Shakespeare_

     The June sun shone brightly on the water; the air smelled of cut grass and flowers. The snow and ice of eternal winter were gone, as if they had never been. Under a weeping willow tree on the far shore from the castle, a red rowboat drifted, anchored to a half-submerged root by a length of rope. Its occupants sat in peaceful silence, reclining on cushions.

     It was Adam who had found the boat, when out on an early morning ramble. He had wanted to explore the gardens, to see what had changed since the curse's end. Little had; it was as though the Enchantress had thought of everything, for there was no ruin to be found, nothing dead or decaying. The rowboat, resting on its face in the castle boathouse, really pleased Adam. The castle was full of hope and laughter again, which he loved, but it was also full of people, and Adam had grown disused to being around crowds after so long in isolation. So he had asked the groundsmen to prepare the little boat for rowing, begged a lunch hamper from Cuisinier, stuffed his pockets full of books, and rescued Belle from the clutches of Plumette and Madame de Garderobe, who were deep in the throes of creating her an entirely new, fashionable wardrobe.

     “I don't mind, you know,” Belle said, as they walked through the grounds to the lake. “The dressmaking. It's actually fascinating.”

     “It is, I agree, but it's such a beautiful day,” Adam said, and Belle grinned and put her arm through his.

     They took turns rowing, laughing and talking as they went. What did they talk of? Everything, as they had almost incessantly over the past few days since the curse broke. Adam read aloud to Belle from a collection of the satirical essays of Jean de la Fontaine, and as they drifted under the willow tree, they fell into comfortable silence. Belle trailed her fingers through the water and Adam, calm and comfortable, leaned back on the cushions and fell into a doze.

     Belle looked at him. She couldn't get enough of looking at him. His face was the Beast's made human, the same quirks of mannerism, the same shy smile. Adam de Courcy, who had endured so much horror, for so long, and who had well earned his second chance. Belle smiled.

     Someone came through the trees, wandering the lake path. Belle raised her eyes and saw Agathe, her hair tucked under her cap, her hands in her pockets, eyes full of wisdom. The Enchantress. Belle had suspected it for days, ever since Agathe had appeared in Adam's balcony as he lay dead in her arms. Careful not to wake her dear friend, Belle clambered out of the boat and hurried towards the woman.

     “Agathe!”

     “Hello, Belle.” Agathe smiled, looking past her to the boat. “Are you well? Is the Prince?”

     “Yes, thanks. Adam fell asleep.” Belle smoothed her hands over her pale green skirts, aware of the contrast she presented to her only friend from Villeneuve, in her princess's dress. “We needed to get away from the castle, find some quiet, you know?”

     Agathe grinned. “I know. So many people crowding around can be difficult, can't it?”

     Belle gathered her courage. “It was you, wasn't it? It was you who set the curse.”

     Agathe met Belle's eyes, calm and unrepentant in the warm summer sunshine. “Yes, it was me.”

     “But...why? Why would you do that to him? To all of them? How could you?”

     It was a question that had preyed on Belle's mind from the beginning. Why had the Enchantress cursed the master of the castle and his servants? Their own explanation, that he needed to learn love and kindness, seemed incomplete somehow.

     Agathe took Belle's arm in her's and they moved up the path together, leaving Adam snoozing in the boat.

     “It's a complicated story, my Belle, and I ask you to hear me out to the end, if you wish to understand it. But I must ask _you_ a question, first. Are you happy?”

     Belle blinked. “Yes, I am, very happy. My father is well and safe, my castle friends, too, and Adam is alive when he ought to be dead. Every time I look at him, I am amazed that he is mine. Yes, I am happy.”

     “That's good, I am glad.” Agathe smiled again. “Very well, then, I'll tell you why I cursed him. I think you will understand.

     “You are right to call me an Enchantress, but the truth is more complicated than that. I am one of the Fae, a protector of the realm and its people. My task is quite specific: I am the protectress of the Princess de Courcy.”

     Belle recalled Cogsworth's explanation to her, that the Prince de Courcy was an ancient hereditary title passed down from father to son, and the Prince's wife-Belle, soon-became the Princess.

     “I was not the first to look after the de Courcy women,” Agathe continued. “As the Fae are concerned, in fact, I am still quite young. I took on the role two generations ago, when Adam's grandfather married his grandmother. I did quite well; it was a happy union with several healthy children. But I did less well when Francois, Adam's father, took his wife.

     “You see, there was a...conflict in the Fae court, and I was forced to attend to matters there for a time. When I returned to the castle, years had passed. Maria-Eleanor was dying, and Francois didn't care. He had always been a cruel man, and he abused her most horribly. _Most_ horribly.” Agathe's voice was bitter.

     “Did he...” Belle hesitated; she was not sure that she wanted to know the answer to this particular question.

     “Adam was not created of love, no,” Agathe answered. “But his mother dearly loved him. Know that, Belle. She loved her boy.”

     “And he loved her,” Belle murmured, thinking back to the night they had used the Atlas, and mourned their lost mothers together.

     “Yes. She raised him well; Adam was a good, kind boy, and his father hated him. I watched him break Adam; it took years, but he did it. The staff bear some of the blame; they could have done more to let Adam know that they were there for him. But they didn't, and Adam closed his heart off, so that by the time Francois died and he assumed the title, he was as monstrous a little pig as could be imagined.” Agathe sighed.

     “But then why curse him, if he was so far gone?” Belle asked, and Agathe gave her a sideways glance.

     “Come now, have you understood nothing about the curse? Adam had to learn to love, and be loved. He had closed off his heart to try to avoid pain, and it was killing him. And there was one other immense problem on the horizon. Can you guess what it was?”

     Belle swallowed. “His marriage.”

     “Indeed. Adam knew that he was required to marry, and he did not let himself think about the consequences of a loveless union. He didn't let himself think at all, really; he just flitted from pleasure to pleasure like a butterfly.

     “But I had failed his mother; I was not about to fail his wife. So I cheated.” Agathe chuckled. Belle stared.

     “You _cheated_?”

     Agathe nodded, looking as delighted as a child with her naughtiness. “I found his soulmate. _You_. You were in Rouen with your father. I arranged for him to be hired on at the castle, to get you to Villeneuve-”

     “ _You_ arranged-!”

     “Yes. And before you arrived, I gave Adam a last chance. I knew that he wouldn't have looked twice at you, the way he had sealed himself off, so I went to him as an old woman begging shelter, and when he turned me away, I cursed him.”

     “And the staff,” Belle murmured.

     “For standing aside while his father abused him. They had to understand how they had failed him. I did feel bad about Chapeau, though. He was the only one who never really gave up on Adam.”

     Belle chewed on this as they reached the end of the path and turned back. Agathe was quiet, letting her think.

     “What I don't understand,” Belle said at last, “is why you let him suffer like that. He was in such a bad way when I met him, Agathe, so full of self-hatred and despair. He hated himself and was convinced he would never be able to break the curse.”

     Agathe nodded. “I am aware of that. If there had been an easier way, I'd have done it, but there could be no shortcuts. Adam had to be forced to think, to realize and repent of his sins. He had almost reached that point when Maurice found the castle, and what he needed most then was hope. That's why I directed Maurice, and you, to the castle.”

     “So you're saying that he had to pay for his arrogance by becoming the beast?”

     “No. I'm saying that Adam had lost himself so utterly that only a curse of great magnitude would force him to confront the lies he had told himself and the bad behaviour that resulted. Once Adam confronted his past and felt a desire to change, he began to open his heart. And since he was opening up to his soulmate, someone who could love him for who he truly was, he was able to grow in hope and confidence. He was able to have the courage to love, because he was no longer being scorned for who he was.”

     “Oh.”

     They were nearing the rowboat again. Belle could see Adam, still asleep on the cushions, his lips parted, his face peaceful. She felt a great rush of love for him, that he had been able to grow and leave behind the coldness and pain of his past. But one thing still niggled at Belle's mind, a tiny but persistent concern.

     “How could you be sure of _me_?” she asked Agathe, not taking her eyes from Adam. “How could you be sure that I'd break the curse, or do it in time to save them?”

     Agathe grinned, mischief dancing across her face again. “In answer to the first question, because you are steady, and grounded, and brave. You think and dream and hope and love, Belle. You have immense courage and an enormous heart. And crucially, you were raised with love and respect, which Adam was not. You were sure of yourself, and you would not tolerate anyone who tried to tear you down. I suspected as much when you first came to Villeneuve, but it was that day with the laundry when I knew it for certain. Remember when you told me that you would live alone in the woods rather than marry someone who didn't value you? That was when I decided it was time for Adam to meet you.”

     “Oh.” Belle remembered her rage and determination that day, and the way Agathe had helped her to re-wash the laundry that the villagers had dumped out, and their talk when she had invited the woman to dinner.

     “As for breaking the curse,” Agathe went on, “I knew you would do it in time, because I was monitoring how the petals fell. Don't tell this to Adam, but there really wasn't a time frame to the curse. I needed him to believe that, to scare him into reform, as it were.”

     “But he died, and the last petal fell.”

     “Yes it did.” Agathe nodded. “I'll admit that I was unprepared for the villagers to react to news of the Beast as they did, and coming upon you lying across his dead body, screaming, was shocking even to me, so much so that I let the servants turn. Luckily, Adam wasn't truly gone, not yet, and I was able to reverse the curse. And here we are.”

     “Here we are,” Belle echoed. She looked at Agathe. “So what happens now?”

     The Enchantress spread her hands. “You live your lives, and love each other, and your people. That's all any of us can do, really.

     Belle thought of the castle she had come to know as home in such a short time, of the people who filled it. She thought of Adam helping her father to find a room that suited him as a studio, of Chapeau playing his violin in the evenings, of Chip and the village children playing in the gardens. She thought of Lumiere and Plumette, dancing in the ballroom as Madame de Garderobe sang with Maestro Cadenza; of Cuisinier quizzing her about all of her favorite foods, and making sure that everything he cooked was something she liked. She thought of Cogsworth, beaming with pride whenever he saw Adam smiling, and Mrs. Potts sneaking whiskey into her tea. She thought of the money that Adam had given to every single town and village in his province, to feed the poor and destitute, and to repair years of his neglect.

     “It's an awfully big adventure, isn't it?” she said. “I never thought it would be so big.”

     Agathe chuckled. “If anyone can handle it, it's you. And I can promise you that you'll live long, and have healthy children.”

     “Not at once, I hope,” Belle said. “I want years with Adam before we have children, you know. I'm not sure how to prevent it from happening immediately, though.”

     “Ah.” Agathe shifted. “That's easily taken care of. Here.” She reached out and put a hand on Belle's belly. “You are young and healthy, Belle, and so I bless you that your childbearing times, when they come, will be easy, and that they will only come when you are truly ready and want them to.”

     Belle felt her face break out into a smile. That was one concern laid to rest. “Thank you, Agathe. And am I to understand that I'll see much of you?”  
“Oh yes, I'm here to look after you.” Agathe grinned again. “Once Adam stops being frightened of me, you'll see more of me. But for now, I must leave you-your prince is waking up.”

     Agathe patted Belle's shoulder, kissed her cheek, and disappeared around the bend in the path. In the boat, Adam shifted and sat up.

     “Belle? Are you all right?”

     Belle ran lightly down the bank to him, and climbed into the boat, and took his hand and kissed it. “I'm well, my love. All is well.”

     Adam smiled, and stroked her cheek. All was well.

 

 

Author's Note: This takes place a few days after the end of the curse, between the penultimate and final chapter of my fic "A Name That More Approaches Truth". I hope you like it, and please take the time to comment! I live for comments; they warm my little writer's heart. 

 


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